New study to drive further improvements in health care for the most vulnerable

New study to drive
further improvements in health care for the most vulnerable

News Release issued by
the COI News Distribution Service on 11 March 2010

A new short study,
Inclusion Health, outlines how improvements in health care for the
most excluded groups in society can be accelerated to ensure high
quality services are available to all.

The joint study by the Department for Health and the Social
Exclusion Task Force in the Cabinet Office, published today,
examined how well the primary health care needs of vulnerable
groups are being met. It concluded that considerable progress has
been made, but also highlighted that socially excluded groups
often have complex needs and require a sophisticated and flexible
response from service providers. Inclusion Health sets out to
address this.

In order to bring about further improvements, the Government will
support the delivery of the Inclusion Health agenda by
establishing a National Inclusion Health Board. This will be
chaired by a Professor Steve Field, Chairman of the Royal College
of GPs, senior health professional and will be responsible for
driving the action plan forward. Some of the key actions include:

Establishing a Chair in Inclusion Health providing professional
and academic leadership within the sector.Embedding inclusion
health in undergraduate training for all nurses, doctors and
dentists.Publishing new Inclusion Health commissioning guidance,
which will set out how the needs of socially excluded groups can
be better assessed and met;Describing and promoting effective
models of prevention and promotion for socially excluded
groups.Enhance existing processes and incentives to encourage
service innovations and improvements for socially excluded groups.

Third Sector Minister, Angela Smith said:

“Health and Care Services in Britain continue to improve
year-on-year but analysis from this study shows that we can still
do more to help those most in need.

“Everyone should have access to the highest standard of care, no
matter what their circumstances or background. Inclusion Health
will lead the way in improving health services to help those most
vulnerable and will build on the great work that is already
happening up and down the country”.

Care Services Minister Phil Hope said:

“The past ten years have seen some of our most ambitious and
successful reforms in healthcare and lead to many notable
achievements including life expectancy at an unprecedented high,
infant mortality at a historic low and waiting times that are the
shortest they have been since NHS records began.

“The challenge now is to build upon this improvement in quality,
creating more personal, responsive and accessible services that
are not just good, but universally great. That includes delivery
of high quality and affordable health care for everybody. The
creation of the National Inclusion Health Board will act as an
advocate for change, providing expertise and leadership as we
strive to meet the needs of every citizen.”

Inclusion Health is based on evidence from the research carried
out by the DH and SETF and work to understand the experiences,
skills, views and opinions of frontline service providers,
commissions, practitioners, service leaders, local managers and
users themselves.

This study complements the work of the broader programme of work
on Health Inequalities and the Marmot Review and work to address
equalities issues in health care

Inclusion Health Commissioning Guidance and analysis on the
health needs of single homeless people, produced by the Department
of Health and the NHS in conjunction with the Social Exclusion
Task Forcewill be published on the Department of Health
website on 21 March.